Strong quake strikes off Guatemala

A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Guatemala on Sunday, just days after a tremor in the same area left 42 people dead, Guatemalan President Otto Perez said.

The aftershock triggered some landslides but “fortunately we have no human losses to lament”, Perez told reporters.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was “no destructive widespread tsunami threat” based on the data.

The epicentre of the quake was located 24 kilometres west-southwest of the town of Champerico, and 180 kilometres west-southwest of Guatemala City, said the US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide.

Perez said that the quake triggered some landslides, especially in an area known as Barranca Grande (Big Ravine) in the department of San Marcos, some 250 kilometres west of the Guatemalan capital on the border with Mexico.

Scores of rescuers were already on the site searching for a person who was buried in Wednesday’s quake, Perez said.

“Thank God nothing regrettable happened, only that the landslide again covered what we had already cleared out,” Perez said.

The 7.4-magnitude quake on Wednesday killed 42 people, according to an updated death toll given earlier by Perez. Initially, 52 people had been reported dead.

Last week’s quake was the most violent to strike the central American country since 1976, when almost 23,000 people perished.